Professor Peter Nielsen

Professor

School of Civil Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
p.nielsen@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 53510

Overview

Research Interests

  • Water waves
  • Coastal flooding
  • Beach erosion
  • Fluid mechanics broadly
  • Coastal groundwater issues
  • Dam-break waves and steady bores and surges
    new area of experimental and theoretical work from 2021.

Qualifications

  • Doctoral Diploma of Engineering, The University of Queensland
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Technical University of Denmark
  • Masters (Coursework) of Engineering, Technical University of Denmark

Publications

View all Publications

Supervision

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • This project involves both experimental work in the Civ Eng Hydraulics lab and theory.

    THE SUBJECT MATTER IS NEW. NOT LIKE SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN STEADY RIVER FLOWS, NOT LIKE SEDIEMT TRANSPORT UNDER WAVES.

    What you will generate and study here is the sediment transport, which occurs under progressing dam-break tips, where very large bed shear stresses and correspondingly high sediment transport rates occur for a very short period (shorter than 1 second) just after the passage of the shock front.

  • It is well known that the simple gradient diffusion model fails in relation to many geophysical and industrial mixing processes where the important eddies are not infinitesimally small compared to the scales considered. Finite mixing length models are therefore an active area of research, e g Nielsen & Teakle (2004).

    The present project will be mainly experimental, studying concentration profiles of light (rising) versus heavy (sinking) particles with numerically similar rise/sinking velocities in the same flow.

  • Much of the sand which migrates along the beaches travels in suspension.

    The mechanisms which govern such sediment suspensions are therefore of interest.

    For some combinations of wave and sand parameters stratification plays an important role. That is, for these parameter combinations, the density of the water-sand-mixture near the bed is sufficiently increased to dampen the turbulence significantly.

    The thesis work involves litterature review and laboratory experiments.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • You, Zai-Jin and Nielsen, Peter (2013). Extreme coastal waves, ocean surges and wave runup. Coastal hazards. (pp. 677-733) edited by Charles W. Finkl. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-5234-4_22

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Patterson, Dean, Nielsen, Peter, Callaghan, Dave and Baldock, Tom (2023). A process-based numerical model of shoreface profile evolution. International Conference on Coastal Engineering 2022, Sydney, Australia, 4-9 December.

  • Power, Hannah E., Cossu, Remo, Callaghan, David P., Nielsen, Jesper, Hughes, Michael G. and Nielsen, Peter (2017). Lagoon stratification in Manihiki Atoll, Cook Islands. Australasian Coasts & Ports Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 21-23 June 2017. Cairns, Australia: Engineers Australia and IPENZ.

  • Olfateh, Mohammad, Callaghan, David P., Baldock, Tom E. and Nielsen, Peter (2015). Tropical Cyclones asymmetry, parametric presentation and discussion. Australasian Coasts & Ports Conference 2015, Auckland, New Zealand, 15-18 September 2015. Auckland, New Zealand: Engineers Australia and IPENZ.

  • Vu, Thuy Thi Thu, Nielsen, Peter and Callaghan, David P. (2014). Monitoring inlet morphodynamics via tidal response, seen through a novel 24.5hour moving window. International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Seoul, Korea, 15-20 June 2014. San Francisco, CA, United States: Coastal Engineering Research Council. doi: 10.9753/icce.v34.posters.10

  • Vu, Thuy T. T., Nielsen, Peter and Callaghan, David P. (2014). Morphology of coastal lagoon entrances: waves versus tides. International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Seoul, Korea, 15-20 June 2014. San Francisco, CA, United States: Coastal Engineering Research Council. doi: 10.9753/icce.v34.sediment.89

  • Shabani, Behnam, Nielsen, Peter and Baldock, Thomas (2014). Observations of nearshore and surf zone wind stress. 34th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Seoul, South Korea, 15-20 June 2014. Los Angeles, CA, United States: Coastal Engineering Research Council. doi: 10.9753/icce.v34.waves.50

  • Callaghan, David P., Vu, Thuy T. T., Hanslow, David, J., Nielsen, Peter, You, Zai-Jin and Teakle, Ian (2014). Ocean driven flooding of a coastal lake. International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Seoul, Korea, 15-20 June 2014. San Francisco, CA, United States: Coastal Engineering Research Council. doi: 10.9753/icce.v34.currents.47

  • Sugandika, Thenuwara A. N., Callaghan, David P. and Nielsen, Peter (2013). Atoll lagoon flushing at Manihiki in the Cook Islands. Coasts and Ports 2013: 21st Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 14th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Manly, NSW, Australia, 11-13 September, 2013. Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • E Watterson, E., You, B., Baldock, T., Callaghan, D. and Nielsen, P. (2013). Flooding tailwater levels for NSW coastal entrances. 22nd NSW Coastal Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia, 12-15 November, 2013. Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia: East Coast Conferences.

  • McPherson, B., Young, S., Modra, B., Couriel, E., You, B., Hanslow, D., Callaghan, D., Baldock, T. and Nielsen, P. (2013). Penetration of tides and tidal anomalies in new south wales estuaries. Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 11-13 September 2013. Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Moura, Theo, Olfateh, Mohammad, Callaghan, David, Nielsen, Peter, You, Bob and Baldock, Tom (2013). Tidal amplitude and wave setup in trained and untrained river entrances. Coasts and Ports 2013: 21st Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 14th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Manly, NSW, Australia, 11-13 September, 2013. Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Golshani, Aliasghar, Baldock, Tom E., Mumby, Peter J., Callaghan, David, Nielsen, Peter and Phinn, Stuart (2012). Climate impacts on hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics at reef islands. 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, Cairns, Australia, 9-3 July 2012. Townsville, Australia: James Cook University.

  • You, Zai-Jin, Nielsen, Peter, Hanslow, David and Pritchard, Tim (2012). Elevated water levels at trained river entrances on the east coast of Australia. 33rd International Conference on Coastal Engineering 2012, ICCE 2012, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, 1-6 July 2012. Reston, VA United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.9753/icce.v33.currents.48

  • Vu, Thuy T. T., Nielsen, Peter, Callaghan, David P. and Nghiem, Lam T. (2012). Inferring inlet morphodynamics and hydraulic parameters from tidal records of Avoca Lake, NSW, Australia. Fourth International Conference on Estuaries and Coasts, Hanoi, Vietnam, 8-12 October 2012. Hanoi, Vietnam: Water Resources University.

  • Vu, Thuy T.T., Nielsen, Peter, Nghiem, Lam T. and Kumar S, Jaya (2012). Sand barrier dynamics by waves and currents. 8th International Conference on Coastal and Port Engineering in Developing Countries, Chennai, India, 20-24 February 2012. Chennai, India: Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

  • Vu, Thuy T.T, Nielsen, P., Callaghan, D. P. and Hanslow, D. J. (2011). Application of the wave pump concept to simulate tidal anomalies in Lake Conjola, NSW. Sixth International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts (APAC 2011), Hong Kong, China, 14-16 December 2011. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company. doi: 10.1142/9789814366489_0096

  • Jafari, Alireza, Cartwright, Nick and Nielsen, Peter (2011). Comparison of two severe storms in terms of wave characteristics based on recorded field data. 2011 Conference on Coastal Engineering Practice, San Diego, CA United States, 21-24 August 2011. Reston, VA United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.1061/41190(422)32

  • Nielsen, Peter (2011). Downward transfer of momentum by growing waves. 20th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 13th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Perth, Australia, 28-30 September 2011. Nedlands, W.A., Australia: The University of Western Australia.

  • Shabani, Behnam, Nielsen, Peter and Baldock, Thomas E. (2011). Field observations of wind stress over surf zone. 21st International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, ISOPE-2011, Maui, HI United States, 19 - 24 June 2011. Mountain View, CA United States: International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.

  • Komai, K., Nakashita, S., Hibino. T. and Nielsen, P. (2011). Mechanism of water exchange a the sediment-water interface in a tidal estuary. 34th IAHR World Congress, 33rd Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium and 10th Conference on Hydraulics in Water Engineering, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 26 June-1 July 2011. Brisbane, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Callaghan David P., Stewart, Jared, Nielsen, Peter and Baldock, Tom E. (2011). Storm surge estimates using wind stress coefficients determined from wind-wave growth observations. 20th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 13th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Perth, Australia, 28-30 September 2011. Nedlands, W.A., Australia: The University of Western Australia.

  • Jafari, Alireza, Cartwright, Nick, Nielsen, Peter and Callaghan, David (2011). Stormy wave analysis based on field observation on south-east coasts of Queensland. 34th IAHR World Congress, 33rd Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium and 10th Conference on Hydraulics in Water Engineering, Brisbane, Qld, Australia, 26 June-1 July 2011. Brisbane, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Jafari, A., Cartwright, N. and Nielsen, P. (2011). Stormy wave analysis based on recorded field data on south-east coasts of Queensland, Australia. 11th International Coastal Symposium (ICS), Szczecin, Poland, 9-14 May 2011. West Palm Beach, FL, United States: Coastal Education and Research Foundation.

  • Shabani, Behnam, Nielsen, Peter and Baldock, Tom (2011). Wave setup: a non-linear approach. ISOPE-2011: 21st International Offshore (Ocean) and Polar Engineering Conference & Exhibition, Maui, HI, USA, 19-24 June 2011. Mountain View, CA, United States: International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.

  • Abreu, Tiago, Michallet, H., Silva, P. A., Sancho, F. and Nielsen, P. (2010). Velocity defect law in the wave bottom boundary layer. 32nd International Conference on Coastal Engineering, ICCE 2010, Shanghai, 30 June-5 July 2010. Reston, VA United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.9753/icce.v32.posters.30

  • Nielsen, Peter and Guard, Paul A. (2010). Vertical scales and shear stresses in wave boundary layers over movable beds. 32nd International Conference on Coastal Engineering, ICCE 2010, Shanghai, 30 June-5 July 2010. Reston, VA United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.9753/icce.v32.sediment.1

  • Nielsen, Peter (2009). Analytical description of transient long waves like storm surges, surf beat and tsunami. 6th International Conference on Coastal Dynamics, Tokyo JAPAN, SEP 07-11, 2009. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. doi: 10.1142/9789814282475_0014

  • Guard, Paul Andrew, Baldock, Tom E. and Nielsen, Peter (2009). Bed shear stress in unsteady flow. Coasts and Ports 2009, Wellington, New Zealand, 16 - 18 September 2009. Wellington, New Zeaalnd: ICCE. doi: 10.9753/icce.v32.sediment.8

  • Nielsen, Peter (2009). Mean and variance of the velocity of solid particles in turbulence. EUROMECH Colloquium on Particle-Laden Flow, Enschede, Netherlands, 21-23 June 2006. Dordrecht , Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4020-6218-6

  • Callaghan D., Ranasinghe R., Nielsen P., Larson M. and Short A. (2009). Process-determined coastal erosion hazards. 31st International Conference on Coastal Engineering, ICCE 2008, Hamburg, 31 August-5 September 2008. Reston, VA United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.1142/9789814277426_0351

  • Guard, Paul and Nielsen, Peter (2009). Unsteady flow effects on bed shear stress and sheet flow sediment transport. 31st International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Hamburg, Germany, 31 August - 5 September 2008. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1142/9789814277426_0126

  • Guard, P., Teakle, I., Nielsen, P. and Baldock, T. E. (2007). Modelling sheet flow sediment transport using convolution integrals. Sixth International Symposium on Coastal Engineering and Science of Coastal Sediment Process, New Orleans, Louisiana, 13-17 May, 2007. West Palm Beach, FL, United States: Coastal Education and Research Foundation. doi: 10.1061/40926(239)22

  • Teakle, I., Guard, P., Baldock, T. and Nielsen, P. (2007). Sheetflow sediment transport modeling including boundary layer streaming. 30th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, San Diego, California, 3-8 September 2006. USA: World Scientific Publishing. doi: 10.1142/9789812709554_0190

  • Callaghan, D. P., Callaghan, J., Nielsen, P. and Baldock, T. E. (2006). Generation of extreme wave conditions from an accelerating tropical cyclone. 30th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, San Diego, U.S., 3–8 September, 2006. Hackensack, N.J. ; London: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789812709554_0064

  • Guard, Paul, Teakle, Ian, Nielsen, Peter and Baldock, Tom (2006). Sheet flow sediment transport modelling using convolution integrals. 30th International Conference of Coastal Engineering, San Diego, CA, United States, 3 - 8 Septmeber 2006. Hackensack, N.J. ; London: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789812709554_0189

  • Guard, P. A., Baldock, T. and Nielsen, P. (2005). General solutions for the initial run-up of a breaking tsunami front. International Symposium Disaster Reduction on Coasts, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 14-16 November 2005. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Monash University.

  • Robinson, C., Baldock, T. E., Horn, D. P., Gibbes, B., Hughes, M. G., Nielsen, P. and Li, L. (2005). Measurement of groundwater and swash interactions on a sandy beach. 5th International Conference on Coastal Dynamics, Barcelona, Spain, 4-8 April 2005. Red Hook, NY United States: Curran Associates. doi: 10.1061/40855(214)104

  • Guard, P. A., Baldock, T.E. and Nielsen, P. (2005). Method of characteristics solutions for swash zone hydrodynamics. International Conference on Civil and Environmental Engineering 2005, Japan, 26-27 October 2005. Japan: Hiroshima University.

  • Callaghan D., Nielsen P. and Baldock T. (2005). Practical aspects of coastal morphodynamic model calibration. 17th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference 2005, COASTS 2005 and the 10th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference 2005, PORTS 2005, Adelaide, SA, September 20, 2005-September 23, 2005.

  • Cartwright, Nick, Baldock, Tom E., Nielsen, Peter, Jeng, Dong-Sheng and Tao, Longbin (2005). Swash-aquifer interaction in sandy beaches. 17th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference 2005, COASTS 2005 and the 10th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference 2005, PORTS 2005, Perth, WA, Australia, 20-23 September 2005. Barton, ACT, Australia: Institution of Engineers.

  • Nielsen, Peter and Teakle, Ian A.L. (2004). Differential diffusion: Often a finite-mising length effect. 15th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 13-17 December 2004. Sydney, NSW, Australia: University of Sydney.

  • Ang, L.S., Sum, C.H-Y., Baldock, T.E., Li, L. and Nielsen, P. (2004). Measurement and modelling of controlled beach groundwater levels under wave action. 15th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference (15 AFMC), University of Sydney, 13-17 December 2004. Sydney, Australia: University of Sydney.

  • Teakle, Ian A. L. and Nielsen, Peter (2004). Modelling suspended sediment profiles under waves: A finite mixing length theory. 29th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal, 19-24 September 2004. New Jersey ; London: World Scientific Publishing. doi: 10.1142/9789812701916_0142

  • Callaghan, D., Baldock, T. E., Nielsen, P., Hanes, D., Haas, K. and MacMahan, J. (2004). Pulsing and circulation in rip current system. 26th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal, 19 - 24 September, 2004. City of Singapore, Singapore: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789812701916-0119

  • Teakle, I. A. and Nielsen, P. (2004). Shedding some light on b-factors. 15th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, University of Sydney, 13-17 December 2004. Sydney, Australia: University of Sydney.

  • Cartwright, Nick, Nielsen, Peter and Li, Ling (2004). The influence of offshore storm waves on groundwater dynamics and salinity in a sandy beach. 29th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal, 19 - 24 September 2004. Teaneck, NJ, United States: World Scientific Publishing Co.. doi: 10.1142/9789812701916_0147

  • Cartwright, N. B., Nielsen, P. and Li, L. (2004). Watertable Wave Dispersion in Sandy Coastal Aquifers. Advances in Hydro-Science and-Engineering, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 31 May - June 3 2004. United States: The University of Mississippi.

  • Nielsen, Peter and Teakle, Ian A. L. (2003). A finite mixing length theory for turbulent diffusion. 3rd IAHR Symposium on River, Coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics, Barcelona, Spain, 1-5 september 2003.

  • Cartwright, N. B. and Nielsen, P. (2003). Groundwater dynamics and salinity in sandy ocean beaches. Proceedings of International Conference on Civil and Environmental Engineering ICCEE-2003, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan, 23-24 October 2003.

  • Callaghan, D., Nielsen, P., Sysserman, J. and Broeker, I. (2003). Morphological model for a fixed bypass system. 28th International Conference Coastal Engineering, Cardiff, U.K., 2002. River Edge, N.J.: World Scientific Publishing. doi: 10.1142/9789812791306_0322

  • Callaghan, D. P. and Nielsen, P. (2003). Morphological modeling of the tweed river tidal entrance. Coasts and Ports Australasian Conference 2003, Auckland, New Zealand, 9-12 September 2003. New Zealand: NZ Coastal Society.

  • Cartwright, Nick, Nielsen, Peter and Jessen, Oluf Zeilund (2003). Swash zone and nearshore watertable dynamics. 28th International Conference of Coastal Engineering, Cardiff, Wales, 7 - 12 July 2002. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. doi: 10.1142/9789812791306_0085

  • Teakle, I. A. and Nielsen, P. (2003). Two-phase modelling of vertical sediment fluxes in oscillatory sheetflow. Coastal Sediments '03, Florida, United States, 18-23 May 2003. United States: East Meets West Productions.

  • Cartwright, N. B., Nielsen, P., Li, L. and Callaghan, D. P. (2003). Watertable Waves in Unconfined Aquifers: Sloping Boundary Effects. Coasts and Ports Australasian Conference 2003, Auckland, New Zealand, 9-12 September 2003. New Zealand: NZ Coastal Society.

  • Haas, K. A., Svendsen, I. A., Brander, R. W. and Nielsen, P. (2002). Modelling of a Rip Current System on Moreton Island. 28th International Conference of Coastal Engineering, Cardiff, Wales, 7 - 12 July 2002. World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789812791306_0067

  • Cartwright, N. B. and Nielsen, P. (2001). Groundwater dynamics and salinity in beaches. Coasts and Ports 2001, Gold Coast, Queensland Australia, 25-28 September 2001. Barton, ACT, Australia: Institute of Engineers.

  • Nielsen, P. and Turner, I. (2001). Groundwater waves and water exchange in beaches. 27th International Conference on Coastal Engineering 2000, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 16-21 July 2001. Reston, VA, United States: American Society of Civil Engineers.

  • Cartwright, N. B. and Nielsen, P. (2001). Monitoring, modelling and management. Conference on Saltwater Instrusion and Coastal Aquifers, Essaouira, Morocco, 23-25 April 2001. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.

  • Nielsen, P., Brander, R. W. and Hughes, M. G. (2001). Rip currents: Observations of hydrualic gradients, friction factors and wave pump efficiency. Coastal Dynamics '01, Lund, Sweden, June 11-15, 2001. Reston, Virginia: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.1061/40566(260)49

  • Dunn, S., Nielsen, P., Madsen, P. A. and Evans, P. (2001). Wave setup in river entrances. 27th International Conference of Coastal Engineering, Sydney, Australia, July 16-21. Reston, Virginia: American Society of Civil Engineers.

  • Nielsen, Peter and Turner, Ian L. (2000). Groundwater waves and water exchange in beaches. Coastal Engineering 2000 - 27th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, ICCE 2000, , , July 16, 2000-July 21, 2000. doi: 10.1061/40549(276)184

  • Dunn, Scott L., Nielsen, Peter, Madsen, Per A. and Evans, Peter (2000). Wave setup in river entrances.

  • Nielsen, P., Hughes, M. G. and Brander, R. W. (1999). A wave pump model for rip currents. IAHR symposim on River, Coastal & Estuarine Morphodynamics, Genova, 6-10 September 1999. Genova, Italy: Univ. of Genova, Env Engineering.

  • Nielsen, P. (1999). Simple equipment for coastal engineering research and teaching. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Coastal & Port Engineering in Developing Countries (COPEDEC ’99), Cape Town, South Africa, 19-23 April 1999. Cape Town, South Aftrica: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa.

  • Nielsen, P., Santoso, E., Baurage, D. and Steinberg, C. (1999). Tidal anomalies in the east coast of oz Coasts & Ports '99. 14 Australasian Coastal & Ocean Engineering Conference, Perth, 14-16 April 1999. ACT: Institution of Engineers, Australia.

  • Santoso, E., Nielsen, P., Hanslow, D. and Hibbert, K. (1999). Wave set up and other tidal anomalies in coastal rivers. 26th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Copenhagen, Denmark, 22-26 June 1998. Virginia USA: American Society of Civil Engineering. doi: 10.1061/9780784404119.053

  • Dunn, S., Nielsen, P. and Madsen, P. A. (1999). Wave set up in jettied river entrances. 14th Australasian coastal & ocean eng. conf., Perth WA, 14th - 16th April, 1999. ACT: Institution of Engineers Aust..

  • Nielsen, Peter (1997). Coastal groundwater dynamics. ASCE.

  • Nielsen Peter and You Zai-Jin (1997). Eulerian mean velocities under non-breaking waves on horizontal bottoms. Proceedings of the 1996 25th International Conference on Coastal Engineering. Part 1 (of 4), Orlando, FL, USA, September 2, 1996-September 6, 1996.

  • Nielsen, P and Kang, HY (1996). Groundwater dynamics in beaches and coastal barriers. International Conference on Coastal Research in Terms of Large Scale Experiments, Gdansk Poland, Sep 04-08, 1995. NEW YORK: AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS.

  • Nielsen Peter (1995). Suspended sediment particle motion in coastal flows. Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Coastal Engineering. Part 1 (of 3), Kobe, Jpn, October 23, 1994-October 28, 1994. doi: 10.1061/9780784400890.175

  • Kang Hong-Yoon, Nielsen Peter and Hanslow David J. (1995). Watertable overheight due to wave runup on a sandy beach. Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Coastal Engineering. Part 1 (of 3), Kobe, Jpn, October 23, 1994-October 28, 1994. doi: 10.1061/9780784400890.154

  • Kang, HY and Nielsen, P (1994). Wave Runup and the Coastal Water-Table. 1994 International Conference on Hydraulics in Civil Engineering - Hydraulics Working with the Environment, Brisbane Australia, Feb 15-17, 1994. BARTON: INST ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA.

  • Aseervatham A.M. and Nielsen P. (1994). Wave propagation in unconfined aquifers. Proceedings of the 1994 International Conference on Hydraulics in Civil Engineering, Brisbane, Aust, February 15, 1994-February 17, 1994. Publ by IE Aust.

  • Nielsen Peter (1993). Combined convection-diffusion modelling of sediment entrainment. Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Venice, Italy, October 4, 1992-October 9, 1992. Publ by ASCE. doi: 10.1061/9780872629332.244

  • Aseervatham A.M., Kang H.Y. and Nielsen P. (1993). Groundwater movement in beach watertables. 11th Australasian Conference on Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Part 2 (of 2), Townsville, Queensland, Australia, August 23, 1993-August 27, 1993. Publ by IE Aust.

  • Nielsen Peter, Hanslow David J. and Apelt Colin J. (1993). New type of nearshore wave gauge. 11th Australasian Conference on Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Part 2 (of 2), Townsville, Queensland, Australia, August 23, 1993-August 27, 1993.

  • Nielsen, Peter (1991). Combined convection and diffusion. A new framework for suspended sediment modeling. Publ by ASCE.

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

Completed Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • This project involves both experimental work in the Civ Eng Hydraulics lab and theory.

    THE SUBJECT MATTER IS NEW. NOT LIKE SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN STEADY RIVER FLOWS, NOT LIKE SEDIEMT TRANSPORT UNDER WAVES.

    What you will generate and study here is the sediment transport, which occurs under progressing dam-break tips, where very large bed shear stresses and correspondingly high sediment transport rates occur for a very short period (shorter than 1 second) just after the passage of the shock front.

  • It is well known that the simple gradient diffusion model fails in relation to many geophysical and industrial mixing processes where the important eddies are not infinitesimally small compared to the scales considered. Finite mixing length models are therefore an active area of research, e g Nielsen & Teakle (2004).

    The present project will be mainly experimental, studying concentration profiles of light (rising) versus heavy (sinking) particles with numerically similar rise/sinking velocities in the same flow.

  • Much of the sand which migrates along the beaches travels in suspension.

    The mechanisms which govern such sediment suspensions are therefore of interest.

    For some combinations of wave and sand parameters stratification plays an important role. That is, for these parameter combinations, the density of the water-sand-mixture near the bed is sufficiently increased to dampen the turbulence significantly.

    The thesis work involves litterature review and laboratory experiments.

  • The project will experimentally investigate the conditions under which tornado-like flows form naturally or may be triggered.

    Of special interest are

    1. Conditions for the building of tornadoes with angular momentum originating in the clouds: Possibly the reason why tornados can exist.
    2. Fire tornadoes, which act like 'a chimney without walls'
    3. Rotating plumes of nutrient rich water, venting from the seabed, which has the potential to sustain large-scale fish production if prevented from mixing too rapidly with surrounding water so that, it can get up to the light- and oxygen-rich environment above the thermocline.
    4. Oil-spils which, if made to rotate, will maintain enough buoyancy to come to the surface for easy cleanup
  • Beach morphodynamics: accretion, erosion and reshaping of beaches by waves will be studied broadly. The widely used but not easily defined concept of equilibrium profiles (morphoogy) will be investigated. Next the processes of change when the morphology is out of equilibrium will be studied. This includes, for a start, the time-scales of changes under regular versus irregular waves.

  • Coastal inlets are important elements of the environment, which often require management in order to prevent desease due to poor water quality or to prevent flooding. It is therefore very important to understand their natural dynamics in response to forcing by waves, tides and floods. This study will be based on recent progress by Thuy & Nielsen and make use of a large NSW government database as well as new detailed field work.

  • Wave runup generates important coastal hazards, from the risk of fishermen getting washed off rocks to inundation and destruction of houses and road-infrastructure. While the runup process on (more or less) straight slopes like sandy beaches is fairly well understood, the runup on cliffs is not. Still the most spectacular cases of destructive runup come from cliff locations, e g, more than 50 houses were lost between 20 and 25m above sealevel on the island of Niue during Tropical Cyclone Heta in January 2004. Also, Sato et al, at Coastal Dynamics (2013) reported that the highest inundation levels associated with the 2011 Japanese tsunami, were found on cliff tops. This project incolves field measurements and associated instrument development as well as relevan theory.